Richard walks past the scene but doesn’t notice, he is thinking about a place in Poland, Rzeszow, a town where a system of tunnels had run under the city and where residents would live in hiding or through poverty.

The men sit and wait behind a sign that reads ‘we become visible’. A journalist is looking for an angle to the story as she can’t place a story in the paper unless ‘something special’ happens. They want to stay in Germany, to work and to live. (Richard’s thoughts about the strong men who row away from a drowning man) Chapter 1Īll these objects surrounding him form a system and have meaning only as long as he makes his way among them … (about Richard’s ‘stuff’ from the office) Chapter 1 Chapter 2Ĭhapter 2 introduces ten men who have embarked on a hunger strike and three days later refused to drink water. Or maybe they were afraid the man would pull them down with him, who knows. Just stop putting up resistance – or is that how dying begins? Chapter 1 What’s he going to do with the thoughts still thinking away in his head? Chapter 1 A man had drowned and there were reports of a healthy group of men in two boats who had rowed away from him, perhaps perceiving his waving as just a joke. Richard spends time thinking about a recent accident at the lake where he lives. He views a kind of meaningful link in this but acknowledges that his objects only have their full meaning when he is there among them, like a sun in the middle of the universe. He ponders his place in the universe as he stores the possessions from his work, understanding that one day these will be distributed among others or end up at the rubbish dump.

He is still a constant thinker and expects this will slow down as he adapts to retirement. The opening chapter introduces Richard, a very recently retired university professor, who finds himself on the brink of a new chapter in his life and has more personal time than he has experienced before.

Go went gone novel